CFP: “H.D. and Feminist Poetics”

To commemorate the sesquicentennial anniversary of Lehigh University, the Department of English will host a conference that celebrates the life, works, and legacies of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s own Hilda Doolittle. We invite proposals for individual papers or panels that explore a wide range of approaches to the conference’s theme, “H.D. and Feminist Poetics.” In addition to proposals that examine the emergence, evolution, and nature of a feminist poetics in H.D.’s works, we also welcome papers or panels that address feminist poetics more broadly, whether by focusing on the poetry of H.D.’s contemporaries or by considering the legacies of H.D.’s feminist and poetic influence.

Topics may include (but are not limited to) feminist poetics and:

Gender and sexuality

Modernism/Imagism

Queer poetics

Religion/mysticism/spirituality

Psychoanalysis

War/violence

Literary salons/print culture/female literary communities

The conference will also feature an “H.D. and Biography” roundtable that showcases new and emerging biographical projects focusing on H.D. herself or on individuals who were significant in her life. We welcome proposals to participate in this roundtable discussion. Additionally, we invite proposals for fully formed roundtable sessions on other topics as well.

Submission Details:

For individual papers, please send a 250-word proposal and a brief scholarly biography.

For panels of three or four, please send – in one document – a proposed panel title and a 250-word abstract for each paper, along with a brief scholarly biography for each presenter.

For the biography roundtable, please send a 250-word description of the biographical project along with a brief scholarly biography. To propose a roundtable session on another topic, please send – in one document – a 500-word description of the roundtable along with a brief scholarly biography for each participant.